• The Latest Rot Mystery Show
    New readers begin here: When the MetroStars were around, I anagrammed them into the RotMasters. Rots for short. A rather appropriate alias, it turned out, as the team stumbled and bumbled through 10 years of screw-ups, failures and farces.
  • You'll win nothing with kids especially if they're unexceptional
    There is a hallowed phrase in English soccer -- "You win nothing with kids."  A phrase that must have echoed thunderously around the ears of Aston Villa coach Paul Lambert Sunday as he surveyed the wreckage of his young team after that 8-0 demolishment by Chelsea.
  • More curious tales from the world of English refereeing
    If you watched last weekend's English Premier League game between Stoke and Everton (for your sake, I hope you did not -- this was just awful stuff) you will have seen, thanks to television replays, three examples of extremely violent play.
  • Is the defensive striker a toothless tiger?
    Allow me to present the latest (I think they're the latest) developments in the realm of soccer tactics and terminology.
  • A Splendid College Cup Surprise
    The contrast at the College Cup bordered on the grotesque. From the sheer excitement and the unbridled, non-stop attacking action of the Maryland-Georgetown semifinal, the event quickly collapsed into the trite defensive boredom of the Indiana-Georgetown final.
  • MLS Cup hits right tone for Beckham farewell
    A strange day, Saturday. A triumphant one for MLS and for David Beckham, yes. But a low-key sort of triumph, without the fanfares and the swagger that can so easily overwhelm such an occasion.